Intel ISEF 2014

Los Angeles, California, United States11-16 May 2014

The Intel ISEF is the world’s largest pre-college science fair held annually to provide a platform for top science and engineering talents of different nationalities to showcase their projects. This year, the competition attracted 1,787 finalists from close to 80 countries, regions and territories. ISEF is often regarded as the “Olympics” of the science research competitions and fairs. There are 17 scientific categories in the Intel ISEF and within each category, the Best of Category, First, Second, Third and Fourth awards are given out. Further to that, two finalists from amongst the 17 winners of the Best of Category will be awarded the Intel Foundation Young Scientist Awards. These finalists are selected for their commitment to innovation in tackling challenging scientific questions, using authentic research practices, and creating solutions to the problems of tomorrow.

The Singapore team submitted four individual projects and two team projects and achieved outstanding results despite strong competition from the other international finalists.

Another individual project, titled “Characterisation and Engineering of Squid Sucker Ring Teeth Polymer Proteins”, in the category of Engineering: Materials and Bioengineering, was submitted by Dousabel Tay May Yi from NUS High School of Mathematics and Science. She investigated the potential of squid sucker ring teeth as a new sustainable biomaterial.

The other team project, Screening for Genetic Polymorphism in GRIN2B Gene in Patients Diagnosed with Bipolar Disorder, in the category of Cellular and Molecular Biology was submitted by Ong Jun Yi and Jeremy Goh Jin Quan from NUS High School of Mathematics and Science. In their project, they seek to improve the diagnosis of bipolar disorder using genetic markers in the GRIN2B gene.